Sony Vegas Instruction Manual

After Vegas is installed and you start it for the first time, the registration wizard appears. This wizard offers
easy steps that enable you to register Vegas online with Sonic Foundry. Alternatively, you may register Vegas
online at www.sonicfoundry.com at any time.

Registering your product provides you with exclusive access to a variety of technical support options,
notification of product updates, and special promotions exclusive to registered Vegas users.

Registration Assistance

If you do not have access to the Internet, registration assistance is available. Please contact our Customer
Service Department.

Registration assistance is currently available Monday through Friday from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Central
Standard Time (CST) by dialing the following numbers:

Telephone/Fax Country

1-800-577-6642 (toll-free) US, Canada, and Virgin Islands

[phone] (toll-free) Australia, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Sweden, UK,

Netherlands, and Japan

[phone] for all other countries

1-608-250-1745 (Fax) All countries

Customer Service/Sales

For a detailed list of Customer Service options, we encourage you to visit www.sonicfoundry.com. For
support during normal office hours:

Telephone/Fax/E-mail Country

1-800-577-6642 (toll-free) US, Canada, and Virgin Islands

[phone] (toll-free) Australia, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Sweden, UK,

Netherlands, and Japan

[phone] for all other countries

1-608-250-1745 (Fax) All countries

[e-mail]

Technical Support

For a detailed list of Technical Support options, we encourage you to visit www.sonicfoundry.com/support.

• To listen to your support options, please call 608-256-5555.

• Customers who have purchased the full version of Vegas Video or Vegas Audio receive 60 days of
complimentary phone support. The complimentary support begins when the product is registered.
(Registration is required to received this complimentary support.)
Please call [phone] if you need assistance with your product.

Sonic Foundry, Inc.

1617 Sherman Avenue
Madison, WI 53704
USA

The information contained in this manual is subject to change without notice and does not represent a
commitment on the part of Sonic Foundry. The software described in this manual is provided under the
terms of a license agreement or non-disclosure agreement. The software license agreement specifies the terms
and conditions for its lawful use. No part of this manual may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by
any means for any purpose other than the purchaser’s personal use, without written permission from Sonic
Foundry, Inc.

Sonic Foundry and Vegas are trademarks of Sonic Foundry, Inc. The brands and products named here are the
trademarks or registered trademarks of Sonic Foundry, its affiliates, or their respective holders.

© 1999-2002 Sonic Foundry, Inc.

Table of Contents

Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Welcome to Sonic Foundry Vegas. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

System requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Technical support. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16

About this version of Vegas. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Installing Vegas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Registration. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17

3

Using online help. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17

Accessing help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19

Main window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Toolbar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Time display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Ruler . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Marker bar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Command bar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

CD layout bar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Track list . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Track view . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Transport bar controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Status bar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Scrub control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Window docking area . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Keyboard command reference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

Cursor indications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Audio Signal Flow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

Video Signal Flow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .34

Tutorial and Sample Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

Tutorial. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

Installing the tutorial . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

TABLE OF CONTENTS

4

1. Voiceover narration (01_voiceover.veg) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

2. Voiceover editing (02_editing.veg) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

3. Music bed (03_musicbed.veg) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

4. Background video (04_background.veg) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

5. Overlay titles (05_overlay.veg) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

6. Pan/Crop motion (06_panning.veg) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

7. Fades (07_fades.veg) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

8. Track Motion (08_trackmotion.veg) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

9. Velocity (09_velocity.veg) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

10. Rendering the project as an AVI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

Sample projects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

Audio mix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

TV spot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

Web spot with captioning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

Panning with still images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

Compositing with masks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

Track motion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

Getting Started . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

Creating projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

Setting video properties based on a media file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66

Saving a project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66

Renaming a project (using Save As) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

Getting media files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

Selecting media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

Previewing a media file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68

Using the Media Pool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68

Adding media to the timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

Working with events. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

Understanding files and events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

Moving events along the timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

Working with tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

Using the track view . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

Using the track header . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

Viewing playbacks and previews. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

Using playback from within Vegas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

Scrubbing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80

Previewing to media player . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81

Prerendering video previews . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81

Rendering a Vegas project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82

Creating a movie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Basic Editing Techniques. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

Getting around . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .83

Moving the cursor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

Changing focus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

Making selections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84

Selecting multiple events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84

Modifying events in selections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

Selecting a time range . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

Looping playback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86

Selecting events and a time range . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86

Editing and ripple editing events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87

Copying events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87

Cutting events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88

Pasting events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90

Duplicating events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92

Inserting empty events and time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92

Trimming events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92

Splitting events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94

Slipping and sliding events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95

Deleting events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96

Crossfading events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97

5

Using automatic crossfades . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97

Manually setting a crossfade . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97

Changing crossfade curves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98

Sliding a crossfade . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98

Using undo and redo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98

Using undo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98

Using redo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99

Clearing the edit history . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99

Adding project markers and regions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .100

Working with markers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100

Working with regions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101

Working with command markers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .103

Working with CD layout markers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106

Using an external audio editing program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .106

Setting up an audio editing program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .106

Opening an audio editor from Vegas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .106

Advanced Editing Techniques . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109

Snapping events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .109

Enabling and disabling snapping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .109

TABLE OF CONTENTS

6

Quantizing to frames . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109

Using the event snap offset . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110

Snapping to the cursor or a selection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110

Pitch shifting audio events. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111

Time compressing/stretching events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112

Time compressing/stretching video . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112

Working with takes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113

Adding takes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113

Selecting takes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113

Previewing and selecting takes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114

Using takes to copy event attributes to a new event . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114

Deleting takes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114

Working with take names . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114

Using the Trimmer window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115

Opening a file in the Trimmer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115

Moving frame-by-frame in the Trimmer window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116

Making selections in the Trimmer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116

Adding selections to the timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116

Adding and saving regions and markers to a media file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118

Opening a file in an external audio editor from the Trimmer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118

Using the Edit Details window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118

Viewing the Edit Details window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119

Customizing the Edit Details window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120

Working with Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121

Setting event switches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121

Mute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121

Lock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121

Loop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121

Invert phase (audio only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122

Normalize (audio only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122

Maintain aspect ratio (video only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123

Resample (video only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123

Reduce interlace flicker (video only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123

Accessing event properties. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124

Adjusting audio channels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124

Using audio event envelopes (ASR) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125

Setting an audio event’s volume . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125

Setting an event’s fade in and out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125

Using video event envelopes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126

Using opacity envelopes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Using velocity envelopes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127

Grouping events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .128

Creating a new group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129

Adding an event to an existing group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .129

Removing events from a group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .129

Clearing a group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129

Selecting all members of a group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129

Disabling grouping temporarily . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .129

Working with Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131

Managing tracks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .131

Adding an empty track . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131

Duplicating a track . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .131

Deleting a track . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .132

Naming or renaming a track . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .132

Organizing tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .132

Reordering tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132

Changing track color . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133

Changing track height . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .133

Using track headers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .134

7

Using the volume fader (audio only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134

Using the multipurpose slider (audio only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .134

Using the composite level slider (video only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135

Phase inverting a track (audio only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136

Muting a track . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .136

Muting all audio or video tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .136

Soloing a track . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .136

Setting default track properties. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .137

Working with track envelopes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .137

Adding track envelopes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .137

Hiding track envelopes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139

Removing track envelopes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .139

Using the Envelope Edit tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .140

Locking envelopes to events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .141

Rendering to a new track . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .141

Adding Audio Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143

Using audio effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .143

Using plug-in chains . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .144

Creating a plug-in chain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .144

Adding plug-ins to a plug-in chain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144

TABLE OF CONTENTS

8

Saving customized plug-in presets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146

Arranging the order of plug-ins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146

Bypassing plug-ins on the chain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147

Removing plug-ins from a chain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147

Saving plug-in chains . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148

Editing saved plug-in chains . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148

Organizing your plug-ins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149

Applying non-real-time event effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149

Using the Mixer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151

Using the Mixer window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151

Viewing the Mixer window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151

Using the Mixer toolbar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152

Using the Mixer Preview fader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152

Using busses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152

Adding busses to a project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153

Deleting busses from a project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153

Routing busses to hardware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154

Working with busses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154

Assigning audio tracks to busses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155

Using assignable effects chains. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156

Assigning audio tracks to assignable effects chains . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157

Routing assignable effects chains to busses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .157

Recording Audio. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159

Setting up your equipment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159

Basic setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159

Setup with mixer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160

Setup with digital multitrack . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160

Preparing to record. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160

Arming the track for recording . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161

Selecting recording settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161

Using the metronome . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162

Disabling playback during recording . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162

Recording . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162

Recording into an empty track . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162

Recording into a time selection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163

Recording into an event . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163

Recording into an event with a time selection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .164

Triggering from MIDI timecode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165

Working with multiple recorded takes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Specifying where recordings are stored. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .166

Changing where recorded files are stored when arming a track . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .166

Changing where recorded files are stored when starting to record . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166

Changing where recorded files are stored in the Project Properties dialog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .167

Burning Audio CDs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169

Understanding track-at-once and disc-at-once . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .169

Track-at-once . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169

Disc-at-once (Single Session or Red Book) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169

Understanding tracks and indices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169

Setting up to burn audio CDs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .170

Viewing the ruler and time display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170

Setting project properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .170

Setting preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .170

Importing CD Architect files. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .170

Creating audio CD layout projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .171

9

Adding media as CD tracks to a new project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .171

Marking tracks in an existing project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .172

Working with tracks and indices. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .173

Navigating to and selecting tracks and indices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .173

Moving track and index markers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .173

Renaming track and index markers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .173

Deleting track and index markers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .174

Editing markers using the Edit Details window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174

Copying a track list from the Edit Details window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .174

Burning CDs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .174

Burning single tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174

Burning a disc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .175

Using Advanced Video Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177

Cropping video. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .177

Cropping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178

Rotating . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179

Adding animation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180

Working with still images. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .180

Creating still images for use in Vegas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180

Capturing a timeline snapshot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181

Creating a slide show . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182

Creating titles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .182

Creating titles from images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183

TABLE OF CONTENTS

10

Fading titles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184

Adding closed captioning to Windows Media Video (WMV) files . . . . . . . . . . . . 184

Adding closed captioning line-by-line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184

Adding closed captioning from a script . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184

Displaying closed captioning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186

Resampling video . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187

Using Edit Decision Lists (EDL). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188

Creating an EDL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188

Opening an EDL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188

Working in DV format. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189

Selecting source media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189

Setting project properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189

Selecting templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189

Eliminating out-of-range colors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189

Modifying video properties. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190

Modifying project video properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190

Modifying media file properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191

Modifying output properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192

Using Video FX, Compositing, and Masks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193

Using video effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193

Adding a video effects plug-in . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194

Working with video effects plug-in chains . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195

Modifying a video effects plug-in . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197

Saving custom plug-in settings as a preset . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197

Using keyframe animation with plug-ins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198

Using generated media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198

Adding a generated media event . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198

Duplicating a generated media event . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199

Compositing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199

Understanding the parent/child track relationship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199

Selecting compositing modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200

Creating masks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203

Creating image masks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203

Creating video masks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204

Fine tuning masks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205

Using the Mask Generator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206

Chromakeying . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208

Adding Video Transitions and Motion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Understanding basic transitions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .211

Cuts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .211

Crossfades . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211

Using transition effects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211

Adding a transition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .212

Adding a transition to the end of an event . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .212

Understanding track layers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212

Converting a cut to a transition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213

Previewing a transition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .214

Modifying a transition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .214

Saving custom settings as a preset . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214

Using keyframe animation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .215

Understanding the keyframe controller . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215

Adding keyframes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .216

Deleting keyframes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .216

Navigating in the keyframe controller . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216

Modifying keyframes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216

Working with keyframes in track view . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .217

Sample uses for keyframe animation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .218

11

Animating event panning and cropping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218

Animating video effects plug-ins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .221

Animating generated text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .222

Adding track motion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .223

Using the track motion shortcut menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .224

Controlling the track motion workspace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224

Using keyframes in track motion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .225

Creating a picture-in-picture effect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226

Animating the overlay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226

Rotating the overlay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .227

Flipping the overlay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227

Previewing Video. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229

Understanding the Video Preview window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229

Using the Video Preview window shortcut menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .230

Optimizing the Video Preview window. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .230

Reducing preview quality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231

Prerendering video . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231

Building dynamic RAM previews . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232

Identifying safe areas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .232

Using histograms. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .233

TABLE OF CONTENTS

12

Preparing projects for broadcast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233

Previewing in a player . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234

Using an external monitor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235

Setting up an external monitor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235

Configuring an external monitor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236

Verifying the external monitor configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .236

Saving, Rendering, and Printing Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237

Saving a project. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237

Creating a copy of a project (using Save As...) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238

Saving a project with media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238

Autosaving a project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239

Rendering a project. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239

Selecting a file format. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240

More about the MPEG format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240

More about the Wave64 and Perfect Clarity Audio formats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240

More about video formats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241

Customizing the rendering process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241

Customizing the Render As settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242

Saving custom settings as a template . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242

Creating custom rendering settings for AVI files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243

Project tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243

Video tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243

Audio tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244

Printing with Video Capture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245

Printing to DV tape . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246

Establishing a connection to the recording device . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246

Printing to DV tape . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246

Burning Video CDs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248

Burning multimedia CDs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249

Customizing Vegas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251

Displaying frame numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251

Changing the ruler format. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251

Editing the ruler offset . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252

Changing grid spacing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252

Using the Time Display window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253

Changing the Time Display settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253

Changing the Time Display colors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Setting the Time Display to monitor MIDI timecode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .254

Working with project properties. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .254

Video tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254

Audio tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255

Ruler tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255

Summary tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256

Audio CD tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256

Setting Vegas preferences. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .256

General tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .256

Video tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 258

Audio tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 258

CD Settings tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260

Editing tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .260

Sync tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .261

Video device tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262

Troubleshooting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263

Troubleshooting resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .263

13

Common questions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .263

Why are some of my DirectX plug-ins not working correctly? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263

Why do I hear gaps in my audio playback? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .263

Why do mono events increase 6 dB when panning a track hard? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .264

Why do buffer underruns occur during a test or real write to a CD? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .264

Why can’t I work with footage captured using an MJPEG card? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .264

Trouble-free video: software solutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265

Trouble-free video: hardware solutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .265

Video subsystem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .265

Hard disk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266

CPU and RAM (memory) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266

Audio proxy files (.sfap0) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .267

Interlacing and field order . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .267

Timecode. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .269

SMPTE timecode types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .269

Timecode in Vegas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270

Troubleshooting DV hardware issues. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271

Glossary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273

Index. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . i

TABLE OF CONTENTS

14

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER

Introduction

1

1

Welcome to Sonic Foundry Vegas

Sonic Foundry Vegas™ is an innovative and advanced multitrack media-editing system. Vegas was designed
to create an efficient audio/video production environment without sacrificing the quality and processing
power that you expect from Sonic Foundry. Whether it’s the standard and familiar Windows navigation
commands or the clean and uncluttered interface, you’ll find Vegas to be a tool that will be mastered in
minutes. Beneath the unique and customizable interface, you’ll find a product that is both powerful and
flexible. This table lists some of the features available in Vegas, the perfect multitrack media-editing system
for your studio or production environment:

Nondestructive editing Unlimited tracks
Unlimited undo/redo Multiple file formats on a single track
Automatic crossfade functionality Simultaneous multitrack record & play
Quick-edit media trimmer with direct link to
audio editor
Loop recording Print-to-tape directly from project timeline
Real time event resampling 32 assignable DirectX effects sends
Audio/video scrub control DirectX Plug-In support
Edit detail list management Dual processor support
Red Book audio CD mastering and burning Multiple I/O support
24-bit/96 kHz MIDI timecode generate & trigger
26 audio busses Dual monitor support
Internet streaming file authoring (Windows
Media Technologies and RealNetworks)
Imports: .aif, .avi, .bmp, .gif, .jpg, .mov, .mp3,
.ogg, .pca, .png, .psd, .sfa, .tif (requires
QuickTime), .tga, .w64, .wav, .wma, .wmv

EQ and compressor inserts available on every audio
track

Ability to incorporate timeline metadata (markers/
captions) for Internet content authoring
Exports: .aif, .avi, .mov, .mp3, .mpg (with optional
plug-in), .pca, .ogg, .rm, .w64, .wav, .wma, .wmv

15

Vegas includes MainConcept MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 transcoding and decoding software.

System requirements

Minimum requirements

• 400 MHz processor

• Windows-compatible sound card

• CD-ROM drive

• 7200 RPM hard-disk drive

• OHCI-compliant IEEE-1394/DV capture card (for DV capture and print-to-tape tools only)

• 24-bit color display recommended

• 128 MB RAM

• 40 MB hard-disk space for program installation

• Microsoft

• Microsoft DirectX

• Internet Explorer 4.0 or later to view online help (version 5.0 included on CD-ROM)

CHP. 1 INTRODUCTION

®

Windows® 98SE, ME, 2000, or XP

®

8 or later (included on CD-ROM)

16

Technical support

The Web site at http://www.sonicfoundry.com/support has technical support, reference information, program
updates, tips and tricks, and a knowledge base.

About this version of Vegas

The Vegas family of products includes Vegas Video and Vegas Video LE. Both versions boast a suite of
professional level multitrack audio tools, while Vegas Video also includes advanced NLE (nonlinear editing)
features, making it a true all-in-one multimedia editing solution.

Feature Vegas Video Vegas Video LE

Video tracks Unlimited 2

Audio tracks Unlimited 4

Multiple compositing modes X Source alpha only

Dynamic RAM preview X

Video envelopes: fade to color, composite level, velocity X

Video effects X X

Video transitions X Presets only

Audio effects (DirectX plug-ins) included X (XFX 1, 2, and 3) Express FX 1 and 2 only

Assignable effects chains X

Multiple audio busses X

Rubber audio (time-stretch and pitch-shift events) X

Render to new track X

Customizable render to streaming media formats X Presets only

Print to tape from timeline X

MPEG 1 and 2 encoding X

Project compacting (copy and trim media with project) X

External monitor support X

CD burning X

Bit depth/sample rate 24/96Khz 16/48Khz

Overall level of video control High Moderate

Most versions can be immediately upgraded to a more advanced version over the Internet. From the
menu, choose

Instant Upgrade to purchase a license and unlock these more powerful features.

Help

This manual covers all of the features available in both Vegas Video and Vegas Video LE. Since different versions
have different features, more advanced features available only in Vegas Video are marked with a special icon.

INTRODUCTION CHP. 1

Installing Vegas

1.

Insert the Vegas CD-ROM. The Vegas Installation screen appears (if CD-ROM AutoPlay is enabled).

17

If CD-ROM AutoPlay is disabled, click the button and choose
appears, type the CD-ROM drive’s letter and add

:\setup.exe. Click the OK button to start the

Run. In the Run window that

installation.

2.

Click Install Software. The installation process begins.

3.

Follow the screen prompts and enter the necessary information when required.

4.

At the last screen prompt, click to conclude the installation.

Note:

Vegas uses the Windows Installer for
all versions of Windows (e.g., 98SE, ME).
Vegas installs the Windows Installer and then
asks you to restart your system.

Registration

The registration dialog that appears when you start Vegas allows you to quickly and easily register:

• Register online - instantly registers the product over the Internet.

• Register from another computer - if the computer Vegas is installed on does not have an Internet

connection, but you have another computer that does.

• Register over the phone - call Sonic Foundry to register manually.

• Register later - allows you to continue using Vegas for a limited time without registering.

Follow the instructions in the registration dialog to complete your Vegas registration.

Using online help

Vegas includes online help. To view the online help, you must have Internet Explorer 4.0 or higher loaded
on your system (IE 5.0 is included on the Vegas CD-ROM).

Accessing help

The online help is available in two forms: in a main help window or What’s This? help window. Both forms
are available via the keyboard ( ) or by clicking the

F1

Help menu.

CHP. 1 INTRODUCTION

18

Main help window

The main help window is accessed either by choosing Contents and Index from the Help menu or by pressing

F1

. This window has four tabs that you can use to find the information that you need.

Toolbar
Tabs

Information
pane

The

Contents tab provides a list of available help topics. Doulbe-click a closed book ( ) to open the pages,

and then click a topic page ( ).

The

Index tab provides a complete listing of the help topics available. Scroll through the list of available

topics or type a word in the

Type in the keyword to find box to quickly locate topics related to that word. Select

the topic and click the button.

The

Search tab allows you to enter a keyword and display all of the topics in the online help that contain the

keyword you have entered. Type a keyword in the

Type in the word(s) to search for box and click the

button. Select the topic from the list and click the button.

Favorites tab allows you to keep topics that you revisit often in a separate folder. To add a topic to your

The
favorites, click the button on the

Favorites tab.

What’s This? help

What’s This? help allows you to view pop-up descriptions of Vegas menus, buttons, and dialog boxes.

1.

Click the What’s This Help button ( ) in the toolbar or the question mark ( ) in the upper-right corner
of a dialog box. Alternately, you can choose

2.

The cursor changes to a question mark icon: ( ).

3.

Click an item in the program’s interface.

What's This? from the Help menu or press .

Shift + F1

PDF manual

There is a PDF version of the manual available on the Vegas CD-ROM. To view this manual, you will need

®

Adobe

Acrobat® Reader™ (also included on the Vegas CD-ROM). Please read the vegas_readme.doc for

more information on the latest updates and changes.

Help on the Web

Additional Vegas help and information is available on the Sonic Foundry Web site. From the Help menu,
choose

Sonic Foundry on the Web to view a listing of Web pages pertaining to Vegas and Sonic Foundry.

INTRODUCTION CHP. 1

Overview

S

Vegas is designed to be an easy-to-use program with many tools that provide power and flexibility when
creating and working with multimedia files. Many Vegas operations, menu items, and shortcut keys are
consistent with other popular Windows software applications. The following sections are a graphical tour of
the Vegas workspace.

Main window

This is the window that appears when you open Vegas. The work area is subdivided into three primary areas:
the track header, the track view (or timeline), and the window docking area.

Menu bar

Toolbar

Time display

Marker bar
Ruler

19

Track

list

crub control

Window
docking
area

Transport bar

Track view
(timeline)

Status bar

Toolbar

The toolbar allows you to quickly access the most commonly used functions and features in Vegas. From the

Options menu, choose Customize Toolbar to specify which buttons are displayed.

Create new project Enable automatic crossfades

Open existing project Enable ripple edits

Save project Lock envelopes

Open project properties Ignore event grouping

Cut selected events or time range Normal edit tool

Copy selected events or time range Envelope edit tool

CHP. 1 INTRODUCTION

Paste items from clipboard into
project

Undo Zoom edit tool

Redo What’s This? help

Enable snapping to grid lines

Selection edit tool

20

Time display

The Time Display window reflects the cursor’s position on the timeline and the end point of a time
selection. The Time Display window’s time settings may be customized, including what time the window
displays and color usage. For more information, see Using the Time Display window on page 253.

The Time Display window may be moved from its docked position above the track headers to float on the
Vegas workspace. In addition, the Time Display window may be docked in the window docking area.

Docked position Floating window Docked in window docking area

Ruler

The ruler is the timeline for your project. You may specify how the ruler measures time: seconds, measures
and beats, frames, etc. For more information, see Changing the ruler format on page 251.

Marker bar

The marker bar is the area where markers and regions may be placed, named, and positioned along the
project’s timeline. These informational tags can serve as cues or reminders highlighting important events in
your project. For more information, see Adding project markers and regions on page 100.

Command bar

The command bar displays when you add a command to your project. Commands add metadata to media
files to create effects such as closed captioning. For more information, see Adding project markers and regions on
page 100.

INTRODUCTION CHP. 1

CD layout bar

The CD layout bar displays tracks and indices in an audio CD layout project for disc-at-once (DAO) CD
burning. For more information, see Burning Audio CDs on page 169.

Track list

This area identifies the track order in your project and contains controls used to determine track
compositing and mixing. For more information, see Using the track header on page 77.

21

Track minimize
and maximize

Parent/child
compositing
control

Track number

Selected track

Video tracks

Audio track

Track view

All arranging and editing is done in the track view or timeline. This area contains all of a project’s events.

For more information, see Using the track view on page 75.

Transport bar controls

The transport bar contains the playback and cursor positioning buttons frequently used while working on
and previewing your project.

Record into track Pause project playback

Loop playback Stop playback

Play from beginning of project Move cursor to start of project

Play project from cursor position Move cursor to end of project

CHP. 1 INTRODUCTION

22

Status bar

The status bar is located at the bottom of the main program window and displays
information about roughly how much space is left on your computer to record audio
(Record Time). During the rendering processes, the left side of the status bar also
contains information about the progress of the render.

The Video Preview window also has its own status bar that displays project specific information. For more

information, see Understanding the Video Preview window on page 229.

Scrub control

The scrub control is used to play your project forward or
backward for editing purposes. You may adjust playback speed

Drag either forward or
backward for playback

by setting the speed control marker located beneath the scrub
control. For more information, see Scrubbing on page 80.

Set playback speed

Window docking area

This area allows you to keep frequently used windows available, but out of the way while you are working
with a project. To dock a window, drag it to the docking area. Windows can be docked next to each other,
subdividing the docking area, or they can be docked in a stack. When stacked, each window has a tab at the
bottom with its name on it. Click the window’s tab to bring it to the top.

Drag the handle on the left side of a docked window to remove a window from the docking area and float it.

Close window

Expand window

Drag the handle away from the
docking area to float the window.

INTRODUCTION CHP. 1

23

Explorer window - Alt+1

The Explorer window is similar to the Windows Explorer. Use the Explorer window to select media files to
drag to the project timeline or add to the Media Pool. You can also use the Explorer to perform common file
management tasks such as creating folders, renaming files and folders, deleting files and folders. Use the

Preview

() and Auto Preview ( ) buttons to preview files before adding them to the project.

Start

Select drive
or folder

Preview selected
media files before
placing them
in the project.

Select media to place
in the project by dragging
or double-clicking.

Add media to the Media Pool
by right-clicking a file and
choosing Add to Media Pool
from the shortcut menu.

Trimmer window - Alt+2

The Trimmer window is a good place to edit any media file. When a media file is placed in the Trimmer
window, you may take portions of the file and place them on separate tracks by dragging and dropping. For

more information, see Using the Trimmer window on page 115.

CHP. 1 INTRODUCTION

24

Mixer window - Alt+3

The Mixer window gives you access to your project’s audio properties, bus assignments, output levels, and
plug-in chains. For more information, see Using the Mixer window on page 151.

Edit Details window - Alt+4

This window serves as a highly detailed and customizable database of all of the events in a project. The
database can be organized and sorted according to a large number of attributes. For more information, see

Using the Edit Details window on page 118.

INTRODUCTION CHP. 1

25

Media Pool - Alt +5

The Media Pool is used to organize the media files that are being used by a project. The information about
these files is displayed in a highly flexible database that can be instantly sorted. The Media Pool can also be
used to apply effects and plug-ins to media files and can be used to set the specific properties of these files.

For more information, see Using the Media Pool on page 68.

Video Preview window - Alt+6

This window displays a project’s video during project editing and playback. For more information, see

Previewing Video on page 229.

Video appears during
project playback or as
the cursor is moved
during editing.

Right-click to
change Video
Preview settings

CHP. 1 INTRODUCTION

26

Transitions window - Alt+7

The Transitions window contains all of the transitions available in Vegas. The thumbnails display animated
examples of each transition. Transitions can be dragged from this window to the crossfade between two
video events or to the fade-in or fade-out region of a video event. For more information, see Understanding

basic transitions on page 211.

Video FX window - Alt+8

The Video FX window contains the video effects available in Vegas. The thumbnails display animated
examples of each plug-in preset. You can drag plug-ins from this window to an event, track, or to the Video
Preview window (video output effects). For more information, see Using video effects on page 193.

INTRODUCTION CHP. 1

27

Text/Backgrounds window - Alt+9

The Text/Backgrounds window contains the different media generators provided in Vegas. Media generators
make it easy to create events containing text, credit rolls, test patterns, color gradients, and solid color
backgrounds. You can drag a media generator to the timeline to create a new generated media event. For

more information, see Using generated media on page 198.

Plug-Ins window - Ctrl+Alt+1

This window organizes all of the plug-ins available in Vegas, including video and audio effects, media
generators, and transitions. The plug-ins, which are organized in a folder structure, can be dragged into the
project. For more information, see Using audio effects on page 143 or Using video effects on page 193.

CHP. 1 INTRODUCTION

28

Keyboard command reference

Project file commands

These commands refer to the overall project.

Description Keys

Create new project Ctrl+N
Open existing project or media file Ctrl+O
Save project Ctrl+S
Open project’s properties Alt+Enter

Window view commands

These commands display the dockable windows included with Vegas.

Description Keys Description Keys

Focus to track view Alt+0 Transitions Alt+7
Explorer Alt+1 Video FX Alt+8
Trimmer Alt+2 Text/Backgrounds Alt+9
Mixer Alt+3 Plug-ins Ctrl+Alt+1
Edit Details Alt+4 Next window F6 or Ctrl+Tab
Media Pool Alt+5 Previous window Shift+F6 or Ctrl+Shift+Tab
Video Preview Alt+6 Toggle focus between track

list and timeline

Tab

Playback and preview commands

These commands refer to playing back and previewing your project.

Description Keys Description Keys

Start/stop playback Spacebar Play back from any window Ctrl+Spacebar or F12
Stop playback Esc Scrub playback J/K/L (pg. 81)
Looped playback mode Q Build dynamic RAM preview Shift+B (pg. 232)
Pause Enter Preview in Player Ctrl+Shift+M
Record Ctrl+R Prerender video Shift+M

Edit commands

These commands refer to editing commands.

Description Keys Description Keys

Undo Ctrl+Z or

Alt+Backspace

Redo Ctrl+Shift+Z or

Ctrl+Y

Cut selection Ctrl+X or

Shift+Delete

Copy selection Ctrl+C or

Ctrl+Insert

Paste Ctrl+V or

Shift+Insert

Paste repeat Ctrl+B Switch to previous editing tool Shift+D
Paste insert Ctrl+Shift+V Open in audio editor Ctrl+E

Delete selection Delete

Split event(s) S

Trim/crop selected events Ctrl+T

Normal Edit Tool Ctrl+D

Switch to next editing tool D

INTRODUCTION CHP. 1

Cursor placement commands

These commands refer to cursor navigation within the track view.

Description Keys Description Keys

Go to beginning of selection
or view (if no selection)
Go to end of selection or view
(if no selection)
Go to beginning of project Ctrl+Home or W Move left to event edit

Go to end of project Ctrl+End or E Move right to event edit

Move left by grid marks Page Up Nudge cursor on timeline Left or Right Arrow
Move right by grid marks Page Down Move one frame Alt+Left or Right Arrow

Go to Ctrl+G Jump to next audio CD track

Jump to Marker # 0-9 keys (not

Jump to opposite side of
selection

Center in View \ Jump to previous audio CD

Home Move left to marker(s) Ctrl+Left Arrow

End Move right to marker(s) Ctrl+Right Arrow

Ctrl+Alt+Left Arrow

points including fade edges

Ctrl+Alt+Right Arrow

points including fade edges

Period

Comma

Ctrl+Period

Ctrl+Comma

numeric keypad)

Numeric keypad
5

region or index
Jump to previous audio CD

track region or index
Jump to next audio CD track

region

track region

Time selection commands

These commands refer to creating time selections or preview ranges.

29

Note:

Many of the preceding cursor
placement commands, when combined with
the Shift key, are also selection commands.

Description Keys

Snap select to event edge Ctrl+Shift+Alt+Left or Right Arrow
Select loop region Shift+Q
Recover previous selection areas Backspace

Select left by grid marks Shift+Page Up

Select right by grid marks Shift+Page Down
Mark in/out locations I (in) and O (out)
Create time selection while dragging on an event Ctrl+Shift+drag with mouse
Expand selection one frame Shift+Alt+Left or Right Arrow
Select to next audio CD track marker Shift+. (period)
Select to previous audio CD track marker Shift+, (comma)
Enter location for end of selection Ctrl+Shift+G

View commands

These commands refer to magnification in the timeline and minimizing/maximizing different areas of the
window.

Description Keys Description Keys

Increase track height Ctrl+Shift+Up Arrow Zoom in on audio waveforms Shift+Up Arrow
Decrease track height Ctrl+Shift+Down Arrow Zoom out on audio waveforms Shift+Down Arrow

Minimize all tracks ` Zoom in Ctrl+Up Arrow

Set track height smaller Shift+` Zoom out Ctrl+Down Arrow
Set track heights to default size Ctrl+` Show/hide window docking area F11
Zoom in time (incremental) Up Arrow Show/hide track header area Shift+F11

Zoom in time until each thumbnail
represents one frame
Zoom out time (incremental) Down Arrow

Alt+Up Arrow Show/hide window docking area

and track header area

Ctrl+F11

CHP. 1 INTRODUCTION

30

Event commands

These commands apply to selected events.

Description Keys Description Keys

Move selected event(s)
right one pixel

Move selected event(s) left
one pixel

Move selected event(s)
right on grid

Move selected event(s) left
on grid

Move selected event(s)
right by the project frame
period
Move selected event(s) left
by the project frame
period

Right Arrow numeric
keypad 6

Left Arrow numeric
keypad 4

Ctrl+Right Arrow
numeric keypad 6

Ctrl+Left Arrow
numeric keypad 4

Alt+Right Arrow
numeric keypad 6

Alt+Left Arrow
numeric keypad 4

Move selected event(s)
right by the first selected
event’s length
Move selected event(s) left
by the first selected event’s
length
Move selected event(s) up
one track
Move selected event(s)
down one track

Select next take T

Select previous take Shift+T

Event editing commands

These commands apply to event editing.

Description Keys Description Keys

Slip: move media within
event without moving the
event

Slip Trim: move the media
with the edge as it is
trimmed
Slide: trim both ends of
event simultaneously
Slide Crossfade: move
crossfade

Alt+drag inside the
event

Alt+drag edge of event Stretch (compress) the media

Ctrl+Alt+drag middle
of event
Ctrl+Alt+drag over a
crossfade

Trim Adjacent: trim selected
event and adjacent event
simultaneously

in the event while trimming

Open in audio editor Ctrl+E

Ctrl+Alt+Right Arrow
numeric keypad 6

Ctrl+Alt+Left Arrow
numeric keypad 4

Up Arrow numeric
keypad 8

Down Arrow numeric
keypad 2

Ctrl+Alt+drag edge of
event

Ctrl+drag edge of
event

Event selection commands

These commands apply to selecting events.

Description Keys

Range selection Shift+click range of objects
Multiple selection Ctrl+click individual objects

Select all Ctrl+A

Unselect all Ctrl+Shift+A

Select all events in group Shift+G

INTRODUCTION CHP. 1